Harper's Bazaar Arabia

254 |Harper’s BAZAAR|September 2014

PRICES APPROXIMATE

Photography by HENRY ROY

Words by SARA PARKER BOWLES

The jewellery designer

Noor Fares’ Middle

Eastern heritage inspires

her work, her clothes and

her family’s extraordinary

French home

MEETS

EAST

WEST

T

he French Riviera has many pearls

to boast of, but the tranquil fi shing

village of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat,

a long-time magnet for European

aristocracy and American billionaires,

is one of its fi nest. This is where the

Lebanese jewellery designer Noor Fares decamps for two

months every summer to recharge, sketch and dream up her

next collection. Her family’s holiday home, designed by the

legendary Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, perches just

above a rocky beach, surrounded by lush, green countryside

with spectacular views of the Mediterranean Sea.

Noor was born in Lebanon in 1985, educated in Paris

and, later, Boston, before she moved to London to study

gemology and design. She founded her eponymous jewellery

line in 2009 (stocked at Boutique N in Kuwait, as well as

Matches and Net-a-Porter online ) and has just completed

her MBA in jewellery at Central Saint Martins. Her fi ne-

jewellery designs – sculptural, geometric pieces in gold,

silver and pave diamonds – have acquired a loyal following,

and her signature wing-motif earrings, which elegantly

swish up the lobe, demonstrate her skill. This, coupled with

a modern sensibility, has established her as one of the most

exciting young designers working in jewellery today.

“My pieces are meant to be tactile and there’s a big emphasis

on texture, as well as line,” says Noor. “But they are also

meant to be fun and playful, with lots of stacking and

experimenting. I get great pleasure from seeing women

expressing their own personal style through my jewellery.

There are no rules as far as I’m concerned.”

LIFE

Your

Noor Fares in the living room of

her home in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat

wearing silk dress, Dhs9,165,

Temperley London. Suede heels,

Dhs2,700, Manolo Blahnik. Gold

and diamond earrings, Dhs56,700;

gold and diamond studs, Dhs6,100,

both her own design. Bracelets and

ring, all her own

Clockwise from

above: the terrace.

The living-room.

Chairs by Marc

Newson and a

Naoto Fukasawa

Koishi pouf in

the living-room.

A chair by Zaha

Hadid in the hall